NewsBank Inc. is a US-based commercial company founded in 1972 that operates a global news database resource providing online archives of media publications as reference materials to libraries. As of 2024[update] it includes current and archived information from thousands of newspapers, videos, broadcast transcripts, journals, and other publications.
 | |
| Formation | 1972 |
|---|---|
| Founder | John Naisbitt |
| Merger of | Readex |
| Type | Corporation |
| Legal status | Active |
| Headquarters | Naples, Florida, United States |
Region | United States Canada |
| Services | News database and educational archive resource |
Official language | English |
President and CEO | Dan Jones |
| Website | newsbank |
History
editJohn Naisbitt, the author of the book Megatrends, founded NewsBank.[1] The company was launched in 1972.[2] NewsBank was bought from Naisbitt by Daniel S. Jones, who subsequently became its president.[1][2] Naisbitt left NewsBank in 1973.[3] In 1983, NewsBank acquired Readex.[4][5] With the completion of the merger, NewsBank had acquired one of the earliest organizations in America to archive microform.[4][5]
The company's headquarters in 1986 was in New Canaan, Connecticut.[6] In that year, NewsBank had 100 in-house employees, while another 100 employees worked from home and traveled to the company's headquarters, bringing back newspapers to their residence from there, and then coming back to the company with indexed information on these publications.[1]
Chris Andrews was brought on in 1986 as product manager for CD-ROM.[1] His job was to help the company transition from a paper format of delivery to libraries, so that its indexes and full-text articles were available in CD-ROM format.[7] The subscription price for this service initially was US$5,000 per library.[7] Visitors to libraries found that their search time was cut from 30 minutes using paper indexes to five minutes using CD-ROM.[7] NewsBank used an arbitrary selection process for determining which news articles the company considered worthy for archiving; it based their selection on articles that were more likely to be widely appealing to a larger potential audience of future researchers, not simply stories of regional interest.[3]
In 1992, NewsBank had difficulty providing its users with a method to search for information based upon a specific location. Newspaper results were listed by subject matter first and then subsequently by location. At the time, it indexed articles via microfiche from more than 400 media publications in the US.[8] The company announced in 1993 a CD-ROM product indexing full text of 35 publications including The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News, Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.[9]
In 1994, NewsBank was the only company providing researchers access to an index to periodical literature in the subject of theater, with its NewsBank's Review of the Arts: Performing Arts on CD-ROM.[10]
It started compiling the full text of articles related to the local economy of geographic areas and providing this information via CD-ROM to its clients in 1994.[11] The privately held company was cited by The Information Advisor as bringing in annual revenue of approximately $19 million, and employing a staff of 350 people.[11] By 1998, NewsBank provided indexes via CD-ROM to newspaper articles from over 450 cities in the United States.[12]
In 2001, NewsBank compiled the Foreign Broadcast Information Service index and made it available via CD-ROM.[13] NewsBank joined forces with Micromedia, Ltd., a division of IHS Canada, to help distribute its products in 2001.[14] In 2004 NewsBank maintained archival access to hundreds of media references since 1996.[15] In 2005, NewsBank was structured in a pay-for-use format, with access differentiated for different types of users including public libraries, public schools, as well as higher education settings.[16]
In 2011 NewsBank reached an agreement with The Daily Northwestern newspaper of Northwestern University to archive all of its historical publications.[17] The task archived more than 90,000 pages of material from the school.[17] It included a plan to archive not just The Daily Northwestern but also prior related publications from 1871 to 2000, and index the material so it could be keyword searchable on the Internet.[17] Dan Jones, President and CEO of NewsBank, had a prior relationship with the university, serving as a university trustee and president-elect of the Northwestern Alumni Association.[17]
Coverage
editIn 2013, NewsBank provided users with its service Access World News, which according to Reference Skills for the School Librarian was then the "world's largest full-text news database".[18] In 2014 NewsBank contained over 990 news sources, covering U.S. state as well as national publications, along with television and radio programs.[19]
NewsBank's offerings include a "Black Life in America" archive.[20]
As of 2024[update], NewsBank holds current and archived information from thousands of newspapers, along with newswires, blogs, videos, broadcast transcripts, journals, government documents, and other publications.[21] It is a global resource, providing online resources to many regions.[22]
The National Library of Australia,[23] along with many state and university libraries in Australia, provide online access to NewsBank.[24][25][26][27][28] As of 2024[update] the resource holds over 760 Australian sources, both national and regional, with coverage for most titles starting in the 1980s, 1990s or 2000s.[29]
Location and people
editNewsBank headquarters are in Naples, Florida, U.S., and it also has an office in Mitcham North, Melbourne, Australia.[28]
The founding president and CEO is Dan Jones.[30][31] His son, Danny (1972–2024), was the consumer division's first president, and largely responsible for growing GenealogyBank, while his daughters have also worked for the organization.[32]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d Andrews 1998, p. 17.
- ^ a b "Company Overview of NewsBank, Inc". BloombergBusiness. October 3, 2015. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
- ^ a b McClellan 1987, p. 87.
- ^ a b Fritze 2004, pp. 107–108; 291.
- ^ a b "Newsbank". Newspapers.com. October 22, 2000. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
- ^ Andrews 1998, p. 18.
- ^ a b c Andrews 1998, p. 19.
- ^ Anderson 1992, pp. 135–137.
- ^ "Full-text newspaper collections". Information Today. May 1, 1993.
- ^ Sheehy 1994, pp. 158–160.
- ^ a b "Searching business news on CD-ROM: Business NewsBank Plus vs. Business Dateline". The Information Advisor. January 1, 1994.
- ^ "Research papers can be breeze". Post-Tribune. September 18, 1998.
- ^ Sears 2001, p. 40.
- ^ "Micromedia, Ltd. Partners with NewsBank, Books24x7.Com". Information Today. March 1, 2001.
- ^ Martirosyan 2004, p. 160.
- ^ Martin 2005, pp. 36–37.
- ^ a b c d Leopold, Wendy (June 14, 2011). "130 years of Daily Northwestern". State News Service.
- ^ Riedling 2013, p. 93.
- ^ Hart 2014, p. 41.
- ^ "Black Life in America". November 30, 2020.
- ^ "About NewsBank". NewsBank Inc. October 4, 1972. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
- ^ "Regional Libraries". NewsBank Inc. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
- ^ "NewsBank : access global NewsBank" (Catalogue entry). National Library of Australia. November 30, 2021. Archived from the original on June 1, 2024. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
The most comprehensive collection of full-text newspapers globally, Access Global NewsBank:... more than 7,000 global news sources covering over 200 countries and territories. These include over 600 from Australia, from community, regional and rural titles through to major national titles. (2021)
- ^ "A new eResource". State Library of South Australia. December 13, 2018. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
- ^ "Newsbank including Access Australia". State Library of New South Wales: Eresources. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
- ^ Grant, Caitlyn (July 8, 2023). "State Library Victoria Online Collection Spotlight: Access Australia by NewsBank". State Library Victoria: Blog. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
- ^ "Newsbank Access Australia" (Catalogue entry). Deakin University Library. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
- ^ a b "Newsbank" (Catalogue entry). University of Western Australia Library. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
- ^ "Access Australia". NewsBank Inc. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
- ^ Gruss, Jean (September 6, 2013). "Keep the news alive". Business Observer. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
- ^ Scott, Drew (November 16, 2021). "Digitized historic newspapers fill unique research niche". Northwestern University. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
- ^ "Daniel Jones Obituary (1972". Legacy.com. February 2, 2024. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
Sources
edit- Anderson, Byron (1992). Library Services for Career Planning, Job Searching and Employment Opportunities. Routledge. pp. 135–137. ISBN 978-1560243038.
- Andrews, Chris (1998). The Education of a CD-ROM Publisher: An Insider's History of Electronic Publishing. Information Today Inc. ISBN 978-0966458619.
- Cates, Jo A. (2004). Journalism: A Guide to the Reference Literature. Reference Sources in the Humanities. Libraries Unlimited. pp. 82–83. ISBN 978-1591580614.
- Fritze, Ronald H.; Brian E. Coutts; Louis Andrew Vyhnanek (2004). Reference Sources in History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 107–108, 291. ISBN 978-0874368833.
- Hart, Roderick P. (2014). Communication and Language Analysis in the Public Sphere. Advances in Linguistics and Communication Studies. IGI Global. p. 41. ISBN 978-1466650039.
- Martin, Mary (2005). Local and Regional Government Information. Greenwood. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-1573564120.
- Martirosyan, Tigran; Silvia Maretti (2004). Scholars' Guide to Washington, D.C. for Central Asian and Caucasus Studies. Studies of Central Asia and the Caucasus. p. 160. ISBN 978-0765615794.
- McClellan, Keith (1987). EAPs and the Information Revolution. Employee Assistance Quarterly. ISBN 978-0866566063.
- Riedling, Ann Marlow; Loretta Shake; Cynthia Houston (2013). Reference Skills for the School Librarian. Linworth. p. 93. ISBN 978-1586835286.
- Sears, Jean L.; Marilyn K. Mood (2001). Using Government Information Sources. Greenwood. p. 40. ISBN 978-1573562881.
- Sheehy, Carolyn A. (1994). Managing Performing Arts Collections in Academic and Public Libraries. Libraries Unlimited Library Management Collection. Libraries Unlimited. pp. 158–160. ISBN 978-0313279768.
Further reading
edit- Andrews, Chris (1998). The Education of a CD-ROM Publisher: An Insider's History of Electronic Publishing. Information Today Inc. ISBN 978-0966458619.
External links
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